The Air Force is prioritizing reusability for its future space systems as demonstrated in its recent launch service agreement awards, a Blue Origin official said Oct. 19.
The service has been “foot-stomping” the idea that reusable launch systems will be part of its next space architecture, as it will improve reliability and lower the cost of access to space, said Clay Mowry, company vice president for sales, marketing and customer experience.
The service on Oct. 10 awarded multi-million-dollar contracts to three companies to help them design and build new rocket prototypes by 2021 for its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program (Defense Daily). Blue Origin – founded by Amazon [AMZN] leader Jeff Bezos – won $500 million in other transaction authority funds to help develop its New Glenn launch system. Awards were also given to Northrop Grumman’s [NOC] Innovation Systems – formerly Orbital ATK – and United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA].
“Their interest in granting us this award and … certifying New Glenn and then building out this capability to the Air Force shows that they validate and believe and have confidence in our approach for using a reusable system, Mowry said at a Washington Space Business Roundtable lunch in Washington, D.C.
Building a reusable system will lead to a “different way of certifying a rocket,” Mowry noted. Blue Origin expects its systems to become more capable and reusable over time, he added. The company is developing New Glenn to be able to officially operate 25 missions, but the engines and systems are being designed for 100 firings, he noted.
“We’re designing for a very robust capability and operating in a very moderate fashion,” he said.
Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine, which will fuel the New Glenn rocket, was selected to power ULA’s next-generation Vulcan Centaur launch system, (Defense Daily, Sept. 28) which will also be developed under the Air Force’s launch services agreements.
“To have both the Air Force and ULA validate us, it feels pretty good,” Mowry said. “As a company, we think it really shows their interest in that propulsion system and reusability.”